Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday hit out at the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Centre after the probe agency conducted raids at AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj's residence in connection with an alleged scam involving the construction of hospitals during his tenure as Delhi’s health minister.
Former Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo Arvind Kejriwal slammed the Centre and stated that actions are being taken because the AAP is the "most vocal voice" against them.
Taking to X, the former Delhi CM posted, "The ED raid at Saurabh Bharadwaj's house is another case of the Modi government misusing agencies... The way "AAP" is being targeted has never been done to any party in history. "AAP" is being targeted because it is the most vocal voice against the Modi government's wrong policies and corrupt deeds... "AAP" is not one to be scared of these BJP raids. We will continue to raise our voice against wrong policies and corruption in the interest of the country..."
He said that ED's raid on Saurabh Bharadwaj's residence is another case of the Union Government "misusing" the agencies and no such party has been targeted like AAP in the past. He also mentioned that AAP will not be "scared" by such actions and will continue to raise the voice of people in country's interest.
Other than Arvind Kejriwal, former Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia also hit out at the BJP following the ED action and said the raids have been carried out following big revelation on PM Modi's degree on Monday.
He said that it came to fore that PM Modi's degree is "fake" and he has lied to the country, so to distract attention from the issue, raids are being conducted on Saurabh Bharadwaj's residence.
Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann said, "Today a raid was conducted against Saurabh Bharadwaj because since yesterday, there has been a discussion in the whole country that Modi ji's degree is fake. This raid has been carried out to divert attention from it."
"(AAP leader) Satyendar Jain ji was also kept in jail for three years, and later CBI and ED filed a closure report in the court. It is clear from this that all the cases filed against Aam Aadmi Party leaders are fake and false," said Mann.
Additionally, AAP National Media in-charge, Anurag Dhanda asked regarding the "fake raids" being conducted on Saurabh Bharadwaj's residence. He stated that on Monday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah raised, whose discussion went on throughout the day. Dhanda said that a raid is being carried out in such a case when Bharadwaj was not even a minister.
"Why is this fake raid being done by ED on Saurabh Bharadwaj? This is happening because since yesterday, the whole country has been discussing that PM Modi's degree is fake, and something has to be done to divert attention from that issue. Yesterday, Amit Shah raised an issue, and the discussion went on the whole day. Today, this raid is being done in such a case when he was not a minister. When he was not a minister, how could his name come up in the scam, or how could he be accused because of it? The same thing happened with Satyendar Jain. The case was run for three years, a fake case was made, and after three years, CBI went to the court and said that we do not have any evidence, Dhanda told ANI.
ED raids Saurabh Bharadwaj's residence
The hospital construction scam is allegedly worth approximately Rs 5,590 crore. In 2018-2019, the AAP-led Delhi government approved projects worth Rs 5,590 crore for the construction of 24 hospitals. The ICU hospital was supposed to be completed in six months, but even after three years, the work remained incomplete, NDTV reported citing sources.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday carried out searches at the residence Saurabh Bhardwaj in connection with a money laundering probe linked to alleged irregularities in hospital construction projects in the national capital.
The raids began early morning at 13 locations, including Bhardwaj's residence, across the Delhi-NCR region, based on a certain tip-off in connection with the case. The search operations are being carried out under Section 17 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA).
These searches are in "connection with the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) recorded in the Delhi Hospital Construction Scam, relating to First Information Report (No. 37/2025) dated June 26, 2025, registered by the Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB), Delhi Police, against former Health Ministers of GNCT of Delhi, along with private contractors and unknown government officials.
"Officials, privy to the development, told ANI that the operations are based on "material collected during the course of investigation and allegations contained in the FIR regarding large-scale corruption, unjustified cost escalations, unauthorised constructions, and misappropriation of funds in health infrastructure projects of GNCTD."
(With inputs from agencies)
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